Time Transcendence
by Emily Evelin
Summary: Naruko is the host of a monster. From birth, she carries it around, trying to suppress it while trying to become the best ninja she could. The day of graduation draws closer and soon, she will become one of four, going out into the world, completing missions for her village. Multiple AU, Fem!Naruko and other characters. Latest Chapter: Chapter 7 - The Test with the High Fail Rate
1. Innocent Childhood

Pre-story Note: (This will be one of the only times this note will appear) "Let me just come right out and say that I am a terrible, beginner writer. As with any fanfiction, there will be things the break canon, and I'm not good enough to prevent plot holes since I lack creativity (if you notice a hole, and you can think of a way to fill in the hole, please please please tell me how -cries-). This might also be a crossover and I will mark it when I actually get to that part of the story (the crossing over part). At a certain point of the story, i'm going to deviate away [more] from canon. Kay~ and now ze story begins. Enjoy!"

* * *

><p>"Sasuke~" Naruko barged headlong into her childhood friend from, knocking him to the floor. He yelled in surprise, causing birds in nearby trees to fly off in surprise into the orange dusk sky. They went down together in a large cloud of dust. "How did you do on the test?" she asked. The boy under her pushed her off, looking glum.<p>

Her playful attitude immediately turned into one of concern. "What's wrong, Sasuke?"

Sasuke sighed. "I really shouldn't get worked up over this, but my father is always comparing me to nii-san..." He clenched his small fists. "I don't hate nii-san, but I wish my father will show me his approval, if only once..."

Naruko patted him on the back comfortingly. Her lips pulled into a frown, slightly upset at her friend's troubles. "That's not fair of him," she protested, "you're already at the top of the class in all your grades!" She dug into a pocket, pulling out a sheet of paper. "In the meantime, i get this!" She pointed at the big red number sixteen at the top of the paper. The rest of the paper was covered with red correction marks. She sighed. "Iruka-sensei grades too harshly!"

Even Sasuke had to laugh. That was the Naruko he knew; the same one that would use her own failings to make others feel better. Anyone else would have hidden their shortcoming and made up for it with ego. He threw his own hundred mark test paper at Naruko teasingly. "At least we know there's one that that you do better!"

With that, he jumped on top of her without warning, and they rolled into the bushes at the side of the road. As the dust settled, Naruko was on top, holding Sasuke down with his arms behind his back; secure enough that he can't break free, but light enough so it didn't hurt... much.

"My taijutsu seems to be the only thing that ever gets better," she laughed. She let go of Sasuke's arms and got off him, pulling him up.

The raven hair stood dusting himself off. "I suppose it comes from having the former Hokage teaching you as soon as you were old enough to walk."

Naruko laughed again, punching her friend in the arm playfully. "That may be true, but your brother and father are really cool too. I'm not sure who would win between my father and your brother."

Sasuke shrugged. It was not important. He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a handful of money. He looked at them. "On a side note, my father sent me out with these. I kind of forgot about it while i was walking. He said if I should bump into you..." When he looked up again, Naruko's eyes were almost sparkling. One could almost imagine the her spouting ears and a wagging tail.

His thoughts turned into a dark direction; his imagination describing to him a huge fox with nine tails destroying Konoha. The same fox that everyone in the village talked about when Naruko was not in earshot. She knows what they are talking about, but she knows that she herself is not the object of everyone's hatred. The fact she had a scary mother and respect father helps a lot. Even if she does lose control when they were both younger. The damage was always small though, and it happened a lot less when she entered the Academy for some reason.

He shook his head to clear the thoughts. When he looked at Naruko again, she had a confused and concerned expression on her face. He smiled at her and took her hand and she smiled back. They ran through the familiar roads of Konoha toward Naruko's favorite ramen shop, hand in hand. At least Teuchi likes the little girl and her friend.

In a tree nearby, two men stood watching them. One had bright yellow hair and leaned on a crutch; the other had black hair and red eye, and wore a flak jacket filled with weapons.

As the two childen disappeared into the brightly lit shop, the two men vanished without a trace.

-.-.-.-

"Stop putting random things in my ramen, Sasuke!"

-.-.-.-

A/N: Lame ending, i know. I couldn't think of anything else. Hope you enjoyed it though. Actually, i actually quite like the ending...Ten points if you can guess who are the stalkers :D

P.S: This is a repost from a previous story that I took down from another account. Before i reposted, I changed a few things. I apologize for any inconvenience i may have caused. Sorry


	2. Family Bonds

"Move faster," her father commanded. He caught a small fist thrown at him and moved it past him, causing her to stumble. Minato caught his daughter before she could hit the floor.

"Make sure she doesn't get hurt, Minato!" Kushina called as she watched from the side. She watched anxiously as she did everyday when her daughter and her husband sparred. Even with his right leg leg permanently maimed, Minato is still a physically formidable opponent.

The yellow haired man sighed. "You say that everyday, my love. You're worrying too much." Beside him, Naruko nodded furiously.

"Mother, you worry to much. A ninja wouldn't worry about a scratch or two!" she said indignantly at her mother's pampering.

Kushina sighed too. She understood as well as the next kunoichi that getting hurt is everyday business in the world of the shinobi, but when he daughter is right in front of her, she can't help but feel her protective motherly instincts kick in. She watched as their family's version of family bonding restarted.

"Right, try that punch again..." Minato caught the fist again, but had lean back as Naruko's leg flew at his face, letting go of her at that same instant. Encountering no resistance, she flipped and landed on her back, winded.

After helping his daughter up, Minato patted her back. "You're getting there. You should move just a little faster." Naruko looked up at that and scowl, although she was barely holding in a laugh.

"A little?" she asked. "Father, you were the fastest ninja Konoha has ever seen. It would take much more than what i can do right now to land a hit!"

Minato winced a little at the "were". There is no one in the village who does not know the reason of the fourth Hokage's retirement. During the nine-tail fox's attack, Minato's leg was crushed when he was attacked by the beast. Malicious chakra from the Kyuubi prevented the leg to ever function as well as it did before, despite the help from the Konoha's entire medical team.

After the threat subsided, Minato made the decision to retire from the Hokage's position and stay to keep his daughter safe and as a safeguard against the Kyuubi breaking free. Even after the injury, Minato is still one of Konoha's most powerful ninjas and he showed that by almost effortlessly complete S-class missions the Third occasionally threw at him.

He was snapped back into reality when Naruko threw a punch at him. He saw her move from the corner of his eyes, trying to take advantage of his lapse attention. Minato swayed to the side and Naruko's fists touched nothing but air. Losing her balance, she pitched forward. As he reached forward to right her, he stopped. She spread her hand that was a fist and put her weight on it as she touched the ground. Pushing off of it, she flew into the air, flipping, and landed on her feet; her stance already ready for combat.

Minato allowed a little pride to show in his movements. Naruko would grow up to join the ranks of the elite. He stopped the sparring by blocking Naruko's next attack and slinging her over his shoulders. He smiled at Kushina and the three of them went inside their house, with Naruko still and obedient after a initial struggling in her father's iron grip. She covered her eyes with both of her hands, knowing what was coming next.

Their destination was a low table filled with scrolls, brushes and ink, and stacked with books. Minato set his daughter down in front of a piece of paper while Kushina took a seat opposite of Naruko. After watching Naruko suffer for a while, he turned on his heels and strode toward the kitchen, grabbing a apron with a teddy bear on it as he went.

-.-.-.-

The older and younger brother sat side by side, their breathing in sync. Theirs eyes were closed. They remained still until even birds began to fly around them, bravely walking around and on them. Suddenly, the younger opened his eyes and spoke. "Nii-san...what are we doing this for?"

At the sound of his voice, the birds instantly took flight in a loud mixture of falling feathers, flapping wings and chirping beaks. The older brother opened his eyes as well and flicked Sasuke on the forehead. "Look what you did," he chided. "A shinobi must learn patience and endurance. This will help you focus and allow you to channel your chakra better."

He looked at the sky, seeing the blue begin to redden. He beckoned to his brother and they both stood. Together, they grabbed their coats and went out to a lake. At the shore, Itachi bent down and picked up two flat pieces of stones. Tossing one to Sasuke, he sent the stone skidding across the surface of the water with a flick of his wrist. The stone went out over a hundred paces before finally sinking.

As the stone disappeared below the surface of the water, Sasuke released his stone too. However, instead of the stone skipping across the surface, it sliced into the water and sped down into the dark depths of the lake. Huffing in disappointment, Sasuke bent down and picked up another rock. That too sank before it could bounce off again.

He looked up when he felt a hand touch his shoulder. He looked into the red eyes of Itachi's Sharingan. His brother knelt down in front of him. His brother's gentle red eyes searched his own dark ones. "Sasuke, I know you wish to have these eyes of mine..." Sasuke nodded. "Pray you never acquire them..." The tone of his voice was sad with... is that fear? It was something that Sasuke has never heard before in Itachi's voice before.

He stood up, leaving Sasuke confused. He stood behind Sasuke and held his hand in a firm but loose grip, pressing another stone into Sasuke's hand. He started to instruct his younger brother in the low, calm voice of his, never falters and always patient. Together, they pulled the Sasuke's arm back. Slowly, Itachi guided Sasuke's hand in the necessary motion.

Sasuke commited the movement and nodded. Silent as a wraith, Itachi stepped back, and intently watched the mirror surface of the lake, now reflecting the silver disc low in the sky. With a whirl of movement, Sasuke snapped his wrist to the side, blurring the rock as it carved a path through the air, so fast Itachi had to use his Sharingan to see it clearly in the falling darkness. The bottom of the stone hit the surface with a light splash, and bounced off. Both brothers held their breath as they counted the number of skips. At last, with a final jump, the hit the water and flipped, sinking with a small plop that no one heard.

Itachi came up by Sasuke's side and squatted down one leg, putting his arm around the much smaller boy's shoulders. "Skipping stones are not the same as throwing a shuriken, but it will build your coordination and precision."

He looked up at Sasuke's face and Sasuke looked down, attracted by the movement in the corner of his eyes. Itachi's eyes were dark again, black as a deep pool of water in the middle of the night. "Do not forget this lesson, or any others that I, Father, or anyone you trust teaches you." He held Sasuke's gaze until the boy nodded. Itachi continued, his voice dropping to something just above a whisper.

"One day, you might need them to protect something you treasure."

Sasuke just looked down at the person he respect the most, letting the words wash over him and ingraining itself in his mind.

Finally, Itachi stood up. Startled out of his trance-like state from looking at Itachi's really deep eyes, Sasuke stumbled and fell. Backing away wildly and off balance, he put a foot into a hole and fell, hard. A loud cry of pain rang out over the otherwise silent lake.

Laughing quietly, Itachi pulled his brother up and knelt down in front of him. Smiling, Sasuke put his arms around Itachi's neck and hung on. Itachi secured Sasuke's leg and they walked quietly toward the Uchiha complex of Konoha, silent except for the sound of sandals on dirt and gravel.

"You're choking me."

-.-.-.-

A/N: Do you want sort of like a retell of this Universe's Kyuubi attack? If you do, let me warn you... it will be a bad chapter since i'm bad at writing. I already have it on a notepad, but it's bad, which is why i left it out in the first place. ...Is me talking annoying you? If it is, ill stop after chapter 5.


	3. Playing in the Treetops

Sasuke dodged as a kunai flew by him, burying itself in a tree branch. He jumped up into a tree , grabbing a thin smooth tree branch of flipping over it to direction. Without warning, Naruko appeared, grabbed her kunai and tossing it at her friend again. But it was too late. With the rasp of leaves spinning in a small cyclone, Sasuke disappeared. Naruko slowly came to a stop, slowing her breathing, extending her senses and trying to pick out any sign of Sasuke around her.

Moving almost on its own, her body dropped off the tree branch, headfirst and she did a flip as soon as her hands hit the leaf covered ground, landing on her feet. Her eyes catch a small shadow up in the tree tops, moving quickly. She brought up several different kunai from her pouch and scattered them at her target. As the first kunai came near him, she reached out and...nothing happened. Sasuke stopped now on a low branch, and watched her with interest. She squeezed her eyes, concentrating as hard as she could for almost. Finally, with a tiny burst of yellow light, she disappeared from her branch and teleported to the kunai that now stuck out of the branch. She appeared in midair and with a scream, she fell, until her flailing arms grabbed hold of the kunai she teleported to.

She hung there, catching her breath. "Sasuke, help!"

By then, Sasuke was on the floor, having fallen out of the tree, holding his stomach in unstoppable laughter. When he heard the plea for help, he stopped with difficulty and began to climb the tree. He climbed onto a branch directly underneath her and stabbed a kunai deep into the tree, tying a long piece of thin metal wire around his waist and another to the branch itself and held out his arms. "Let go, I'll catch you!"

"Do you promise?!"

"Yes!"

Without warning, Naruko released the kunai and dropped straight down into Sasuke's arms and the two almost fell over if it wasn't for Sasuke's balance and the strings that stabilized him.

With Naruko's help, Sasuke untied the strings and put it back into his small Academy-issued pouches. He sat down onto the thick branch, studying her.

"I can't believe you can use Hiraishin so early!"

Naruko looked crestfallen. "I can't. Those kunai are prepared by my father to help me learn it. You can only use it successfully once and it fails a lot. It takes a lot less chakra and skill though!" She pointed at the knife buried high above them. The paper wrapped around the handle was black and burnt, and cracked where Naruko hung on to it. She stomped. "And i still can't do it right! Father said it'll get better with my chakra control, but it's not!"

She sat down. "Even though it's a much simpler version..."

"It'll be alright, Naruko. Did he say you could show me though?"

Naruko shook her head. "He told me to keep it a secret until my first mission, and i _was_ intending to obey him." She paused. "But I couldn't resist showing you though!"

Sasuke laughed. A small conspiratorial smile flicked across his lips. "My lips are sealed," he vowed. Then, he told Naruko to stay back. "Guess what, Naruko!"

She had no idea what he was about to do.

"I passed my test to become a true Uchiha!" He blinked at the confused look on Naruko's face and sighed. "All Uchiha has a natural affinity with fire. Watch!"

_Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!_ Sasuke took a deep breath and brought a curled index finger up to his lips, with a small hole in the curve. Breathing out, he focused the intense fire from the the changed chakra in his chest with the index finger. A jet of bright orange and yellow flame shot out, and widened into a huge fireball.

A panicked cry from next to him cut had him stop the jutsu as Naruko shot to her feet. "Sasuke! You shouldn't play with fire in a forest!"

As the last flames faded in the air, Naruko looked for signs of burning wood. None of them knew water style ninjutsu so if the whole forest caught on fire, there was nothing they could do about it.

As the orange glow disappeared, and no wood sparked and crackled, Naruko dropped to her knees in relief. Sasuke squatted down next to her, his expression full of apology. "Sorry for making you worried like that. I really wanted to show you too."

Naruko didn't answer, but Sasuke knew her well enough that when she sighed; a long drawn out breath, he knew he had been forgiven, but if he ever does said offense again, she will hit him, or worse.

Sasuke pulled on Naruko's jacket and when she looked up, he motioned for her to follow. He climbed further up the tree, using kunais for extra leverage, Naruko following close behind.

They topped up through the canopy of the forest and froze. None of them had been this far up in a forest. Up here, the tree swayed gently with the wind, and beneath them, a sea of green rustles each time the wind blew stronger.

Self consciously, Naruko's hand slid over the tree branch toward Sasuke's. Her finger touched the boy's hand and she almost drew away, and blushed fiercely. Risking a quick look at Sasuke, she was relieved when she saw him staring up at the fluffy white clouds that drifted lazily in the sea on blue. Made more bold by her friend's inattention, her hand inched further until her whole hand rested on top of Sasuke's slightly bigger one.

Oh why does her cheeks burn when she thinks of him? Never before.

-.-.-.-

"Naruko. Naruko? Wake up, Naruko!"

She woke up from a combination of shaking and a voice calling her name. She opened her eyes, confronted by a wall of black. Her cheeks were wet. She instantly shot upright as she realized what she was looking at; she dozed off on Sasuke's shoulder, and drooled on him! She hurriedly wiped her mouth with her sleeves and sat on the branch, back perfectly straight and not looking at the boy next to her.

"I'm surprised that you managed to stay up here while sleeping." Sasuke stood up cautiously, balancing on the branch. As he stabilized, he offered a hand to Naruko. "I didn't want to wake you, but our parents are going to worry...well... yours will. And you need to get rid of that habit of just sleeping wherever."

Naruko looked longingly at the extended hand, her cheeks burning again slightly, but not as fiercely as before. Ignoring it, she grabbed hold of Sasuke's arm instead of hand to support part of her light weight on. As soon as she gained her balance, she let go of Sasuke. He looked at her, but she shook her head.

Then, like a pair of diving falcons, they jumped off the branch together, using the branches below to swing and slow their fall. They stopped two or three levels above the ground and headed toward the village, pushing off the branches and turning their surroundings into a blur. Even a Academy student can accomplish this much.

The trees disappeared and buildings loomed before them. They dropped to the floor and continued on the ground, Naruko losing her balance and dropping to one knee but recovered almost immediately; racing each other on who can get to Naruko's house first. They skid to a stop in the front steps of the Namikaze and Uzumaki couple and their daughter's dwelling, with Naruko there a good three seconds before Sasuke.

As Sasuke raised his hand to knock, the door opened to show a terrifying woman with hair of fire, arms crossed. In his haste to back away, Sasuke bumped into Naruko and they tumbled in a heap onto the floor.

"Naruko, where do you think you were, young lady?" Kushina asked, her voice terrible.

As the two kids untangled themselves from the knot they were in, Naruko stepped forward and hugged her mother. Kushina's face cleared immediately and she smiled. "Just kidding. I can never get you, Naru-chan." She turned at the sound of a man calling from inside the house. "Coming!" she yelled back. She looked behind Naruko at Sasuke.

"Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Sasuke bowed politely. "No thank you. I must get home to my family."

Kushina laughed and Naruko turned around so she was leaning back against her mother. "There's no need to be so formal, Sasuke! Very well, I suppose you would rather have your mother's cooking than Minato's." She lifted her daughter's hand in a wave, and watched as Sasuke ran down the darkening streets. Then she quietly closed the door in the wall and followed her over-energetic daughter into the house.

"Can I go eat as Sasuke's place!"

"Nope."

-.-.-.-

A/N: Yay, finally third chapter up~(But then you already know that. It's why you're down here, isn't it?)! I hope you enjoy the story. If you do, leave a comment and review so I know how I did and how I can do better! Also taking some plot suggestions and I will twist it. I'll also write whose idea it is at the bottom of the story in the A/N so you'll get credit, so suggest away ^.^


	4. Testing In Progress

Naruko opened her eyes to a blurry ceiling. She looked at the familiar sight that greeted her each day. Her mind still fuzzy, she slowly looked to her left at her sleeping mother, whose right arm was thrown over her daughter when she hugged her last night. To her right is her father. His slow, shallow breathing confirmed for her that he is still sleeping. One of his hands enveloped hers.

Lifting her head slightly, she peeked at the curtained window. Outside, the sky was still dark with the faintest hint of red. It will be a while until the Academy opens for the day. Settling down, her mind drifted towards memories of that day months ago on the treetop like every time other time she lets her mind wander, whether she liked it or not. And every time, a light blush appears on her cheeks and her face starts burning. Not exactly the best sensation to start the day with. Especially not today. It was definitely not normal... but at least Sasuke himself is always distracting her from thinking.

Slowing her breath, she thought back to when her mother and father was talking about how they first fell in love. They had feelings for each other when they were genin, but it wasn't until they were both chunin that Minato finally confessed. If that was the case, then there is a while before she has to worry about her feelings for Sasuke... she hope.

Her thoughts drifted again to the coming day in the Academy, reviewing everything she learned and practiced controlling her chakra. She shifted to the right a bit to get more comfortable, careful not to wake her mother, and looked right into her father's bright blue, but still slightly unfocused eyes when she turned.

Suppressing a startled yell and managed to release only a quiet peep, she looked at her father with questioning eyes. Minato waved for his daughter to wait. Yawning silently but widely, he rolled off the bed with barely a disturbance and headed toward the kitchen, shuffling lazily. Naruko remained on the warm bed for a moment before following her father, carefully crawling out from under her mother's arm before joining Minato in the kitchen.

The father and daughter was a strange pair. Minato wore light blue pajamas with short sleeves to bed, his yellow hair sticking out all over the place on his head. Naruko, on the other hand, wore a thin, light pink shirt with sleeves that reached her fingertips and the same light pink pants that hung just slightly below her ankles. Surprisingly, Naruko's hair seems always to be straight, no matter when she woke up.

"When did you wake up, Father?" she asked.

Minato cracked open a few eggs and put them in the pan before answering. "You used chakra. I AM a sensor, you know. Even if i'm a physical type; using chakra that close is still obvious."

"Oh." Naruko crossed the room to the table and climbed into the chair, her feet dangling. She watched as Minato pushed the eggs around the pan, preventing it from sticking and scraped it off onto a plate. Taking a carton of milk from the fridge, he poured a glass for him daughter and himself; setting everything on the table. Taking a seat across from Naruko, he leaned across the table and ruffled her hair.

"Today is a big day, isn't it? Naruko?" he asked quietly. Naruko nodded, not answering because of the food in her mouth.

"Yup! I'm looking forward to the festival!" she piped, after swallowing.

"You might not pass, Naruko. Also, it's after midnight. If you don't pass, I won't allow you to stay up so late!"

Naruko froze. The final exam for graduation from the Academy always included a test portion and a ninjutsu portion. And she could not perform ninjutsu to save her life... especially not the Bunshin no Jutsu since she couldn't control her chakra well enough to materialize a clone, let alone three. Bunshin no Jutsu focused on chakra control, something she completely lacked. Despite all her father and mother had done for her, she couldn't do it every time they tried the jutsu. Her unmatched taijutsu will do nothing for her in the test.

Minato instantly regretted his words. "Don't worry about it, Naruko, I'm sure you'll do fine and pass with flying colors. Today will be different." He gestured at the window, which was much brighter than the last time Naruko looked while on the bed, even though it was facing the wrong direction. Naruko nodded and walked into the bedroom, closing the door quietly behind her.

Tiptoeing to the drawer that contained her clothes, she picked out a black shirt with the Uzumaki clan symbol on the back and her usual orange-yellow pants. Then she went over to the closet and slowly opened it, wincing as the hinges creaked. She stood on her tiptoes and felt around in the darkness for her jacket. She jumped in surprise when she heard her name being called from behind her.

"Mom! Why do you and father wake up so quietly!"

Kushina laughed sleepily. "I never notice you wake up either. Guess that makes for the three of us. Did you eat yet?"

Naruko found her jacket and pulled it down, nodding before she realized her mother can't see her in the dark. "Yes." She heard the bed creak as her mother settled back into bed and the rustle of cloth as Kushina pulled the blankets toward herself.

"Good luck on the exam, dear. Come here."

Naruko crossed the room, draping her jacket on her shoulders and leaned on the large bed. Kushina's arms drew her into a hug and kissed her on the forehead. "Make me proud." Her warm hand felt Naruko's bad and ran over the Uzumaki clan symbol. She pulled Naruko closer and whispered in her ear. "I worked hard on it for your graduation, you can do it, Naruko."

She released her daughter and Naruko nodded. "I will!" She turned and ran out of the room. As she ran into the living room, the light caught some of the threads on the symbol. The red glowed crimson and became outlined with gleaming gold.

-.-.-.-

"Kyaa! Look there's Sasuke!"

"How do you think he'll do on the exam?"

"Are you stupid? Of course he'll do perfectly on it!"

"Why is he always around that girl?"

Sasuke looked at his companion walking beside him. A recent growth spurt put him almost a hands width taller that his friend. She was acting strangely today. Usually, when the other girls talked about them, she'd glare at them with a terrifying stare until they stopped talking and then smile playfully. Today though, she was just walking along side him, staring blankly ahead.

"Naruko, are you okay?"

Naruko stared straight ahead, giving no indication that she heard him. In fact, she actually didn't hear anything. Her mind filled with words and information that she spent the past weak memorizing and she was desperate not the forget a single bit of information, keeping them in her mind by reviewing it over and over. She was jerked out of her thoughts when Sasuke shoved her a bit. She looked at him questioningly.

"Are you okay?"

Naruko nodded. Sasuke was not convinced. "What are you doing? You'd normally be staring everyone around us down."

"I'm just desperately trying to remember everything we've been taught. Something you don't have to do."

Sasuke laughed quietly. "I do have to sometimes. Not as much as you perhaps, but i did review the lessons with Nii-san last night."

They stopped talking as they reached the large arch doorway into the Academy. The exam hall was huge and underground, with two entranced that connected to long corridors. The exam is supposed to be a temporary shelter in case of attack, but on this particular day, the floor was lined with desks and chairs. Seating order was decided by clan name and second names, which put Sasuke and Naruko right next to each other.

To catch cheating, Hyuga shinobi sat at the corners of the room with Byakugan activated, in case the student's parents had given the child a cheating technique. To the Konoha people, honesty was a respected trait and the exams of initiation into the world of a shinobi is a solemn event.

As all the students were seated, proctors began handing out the paper tests. As Naruko looked at it, she was relieved that she studied so much for it. She knew most of the questions, but she sweated nonetheless. How will she possibly pass the Chunin and Jonin exam if just the Genin exam is so hard? She looked to Sasuke for reassurance and received a smile in reply before he turned back to writing. With a sigh, she started writing too.

How many tenketsu are in the body? Naruko stopped and thought for a moment, before writing "361", remembering her father's long speech about the Byakugan.

What are the four noble clans of Konoha? Naruko scoffed. That was easy. Her friend Sasuke is a Uchiha... she stopped and thought hard. Her friend Choji is in Akimichi and the shinobi seated at the corners of the room is from the Hyuga clan. She couldn't remember the last one exactly, so she just wrote a vague "Aburama". She remembered being grossed out when her father talked about the bugs.

What creates chakra? As a person who can't control chakra very well, she was lectured constantly about it. It was obviously the "mixing of physical and spiritual energy."

What is the reason for the use of hand seals? How old does the test makers think they are? She quickly scratched "to efficiently manipulate chakra for jutsu" onto her paper.

She continued to crank out answers as fast as she could to avoid forgetting any of the information she crammed, but part of her mind locked onto the seal question and thought forward to the jutsu part of the test. Her confidence faltered and a sick feeling washed over her each time she looked at Sasuke.

-.-.-.-

Naruko put down her pen and took a deep breath. She looked up around her, trying to see how many people are still left. Less than half remain and she was aware that Sasuke left a long time ago when he finished. She stood up with her test and a proctor came over and accepted it from her outstretched hands. He towered over her small build. He silently nodded down at her and she dipped her head in response. When he returned to the front of the room behind a table with a stack of completed tests and began to grade. She sat and watched him and after a few minutes, he looked up and gave her a thumbs up. Naruko nodded and walked out of the huge room, treading softly so she doesn't disturb others, and because any sound other than pen scratching paper seemed out of place in the silent environment.

She rounded a corner in the corridor and tripped over the feet of a person. She fell with a scream of surprise, and was mildly relieved in her mind that she was far enough away from the exam hall for them to not hear her. A shadow passed under her and she landed on a person's body instead of the floor. She pushed herself up and sat on her knees, looking at the person who helped her, apologizing furiously. When she recognized the person, she stopped. Her expression became confused.

"Sasuke, what are you doing here? You should be taking the jutsu test!"

Sasuke smiled at her and pushed her off him so he could get off. "I was waiting for you, Naruko. I couldn't just leave you in that terrible place alone, could I~?"

"But it must have been at least half a hour since you finished. What were you doing during that time. You didn't need to." Still, she hugged him thankfully. At least if she doesn't pass the jutsu test, she could spend a some more time with him before he leaves her to go on mission. It pains her to think about that scenario and she didn't think that it was only because she will lack a playmate.

Sasuke took her hand and pulled her with him toward the outside. "Your worries are baseless," he said, laughing. "I know what you are thinking and it won't happen."

Naruko kept silent, and followed him, not trusting herself to answer. They stopped outside their classroom, where their Academy teacher will oversee the test. In this case, her teacher was Iruka. She liked him, but she didn't think he will go easy on the grading. Still, knowing it will be him, someone familiar and a family will be the one watching makes her slightly more confident.

"Please, ladies first," Sasuke laughed, and stood aside, opening the doors for her. "Good luck!"

She nodded and walked in. Iruka greeted her with a wave. "Hello, Naruko. You ready?"

"Yes." Even though she tried to sound confident, her nervousness showed through with a quiver in her voice. Iruka smiled at her reassuringly.

"You can do it, don't worry. You're chakra is stronger than normal. All you have to do is learn to harness it."

Naruko closed her eyes and concentrated, making the Tiger seal. Her powerful chakra rose out of her in thin tendrils, getting thicker and brighter until it was almost blasting out of her, surrounding her with a blue aura. She opened her eyes and the chakra vanished. Her hands moved carefully, forming the necessary position for each seal, and ending with her left hand on top of her right fist.

She closed her eyes and she was surrounded with a explosion of smoke. She held her breath, and the smoke slowly dissipated. She never remember hoping for success more than this moment and never before had she wished for such opposing things; for the smoke to vanish and for the smoke to stay for all eternity.

The smoke disappeared and Iruka's eyes widened.

A/N: Ran out of ideas until idea (he's a person, pardon the pun? Anyway, thanks!) inspired me.

Sorry, couldn't resist stopping here XD If you guys really want to, i'll continue it with a update on this chapter, but since I'm starting chapter 5 tomorrow, i think there is no point. If you guys insist though...

This is been bothering me. I feel like Naruko is a Mary Sue and i want to try and fix it. There's something I can't place about her.


	5. A Happy Festival

The room became dead silent. Beside Naruko, the faintest image of her wavered and vanished.

Iruka found his voice. He tried to maintain a professional tone, but he couldn't conceal the sadness and regret in his voice. "I'm sorry, Naruko, but..."

Naruko nodded. Her movements stiff, she bowed low to Iruka, uttering a small "sorry to bother you" and left the room. She opened the door slowly, the heavy wood rumbling in the grooves on the ground.

Sasuke stood next to the entrance. As she passed, he touched her shoulder comfortingly, and entered the room. Naruko continued down the corridor. Once she was outside, she followed the stone path onto the road until she reached the tall building where benches lined the flat roof. She fell back against the benches and pulled in her knees, looking up at the clouds, seeing but not seeing the fluffy white cotton balls drift across the sky.

_"It's not the end of the world."_

She sighed and lowered her head, resting her chin between her drawn up knees, answering the thought in her head. "Maybe not, but I want to do everything with him... I feel like he's drawing further and further away. Father said a shinobi will never know the moment of his death. I want to support him, forever."

She leaned to her side and curled up along the length of the bench. In the quiet of the afternoon, she fell asleep, the soft breeze ruffling her hair and the sun warming her.

When someone touched her, she woke instantly, so surprised that she rolled away and hit her head on the back of the bench.

"Naruko."

"Hello, Sasuke..."

He took her shoulders and shook her a bit. "Naruko, look."

She rubbed her eyes to clear to and stared up at Sasuke, outlined against the now red sky. It took her a moment, because nothing on him changed. Then she realized that was the problem. Genin would usually try on their head protectors and flaunt it all day, but Sasuke's forehead was empty except for a few strands of raven hair.

"I didn't pass," Sasuke said, smiling. He never saw the punch to his stomach coming. She flew into him and pushed him to the ground.

"Why?" she yelled "why are you doing this?!"

Sasuke started to push her off, and then stopped. Her face was red, tears threatening to spill. "No no no! Don't cry! Please don't cry..." He pulled her closer.

"Thank you..."

She sniffed a few times, hiccuping from suppressing little sobs and wiped away the tears that were forming at the edge of her eyes and sat back on her legs. Sasuke sat back too.

"Naruko...I think you're overreacting. We'd still see each other between missions."

She fiddled with her sleeves awkwardly, embarrassed at her display of emotion. "That's not the reason," she whispered softly. "I don't want you to go on missions without me. Who will look after you if I'm not there...and who will look after me if you're not there?"

Sasuke fidgeted. "Whoever we are grouped with will be best at complementing our skills..."

"That's not what I mean!"

Sasuke stopped talking and thought about his next words. "Would you like to go to the festival tonight with me, Naruko?" he asked, changing the subject.

Naruko nodded, but then stopped. "My father said he wouldn't let me go if I don't pass the exam though."

"That's okay. I can be very persuasive." Sasuke grinned and stood up, pulling Naruko with him. Pulling on her hand, he ran down the stairs toward the Uzumaki residence. On the way, they passed the streets being prepared for the festival.

Red lanterns hanging from the roofs of the houses lit up the darkening village as the setting sun sent rays of brilliant orange and gold flames shining across the sky. The air filled from the aroma of cooking; everything ranging from fish balls to cakes to steamed dumplings. In the distance, the forest occasionally flashed as shinobi rehearsed the combinations of jutsu that will produce the more spectacular of displays in the privacy of a cave. The village is never more alive than this time of the year, to celebrate the coming of a new generation of the village's hope, pride and protectors.

The two weaves round the loud and busy streets until they came up to the Uzumaki residence. Naruko hid behind Sasuke while he knocked. The door opened and Kushina looked down. Before she could speak, Sasuke bowed deeply. "Good evening, Kushina-san. May I request that you allowed Naruko to come with me to the festival tonight?" Behind him, Naruko looked pleadingly at her mother.

Kushina sighed. "Okay, very well. You can go. Sasuke, make sure she doesn't get into any more trouble; and you stay out of trouble, Naruko."

"Yes, mother," Naruko promised while Sasuke nodded.

As they ran off to watch the preparations, Kushina smiled, daydreaming. After a few second, she snapped back to reality. She ran inside, calling Minato's name. "Go after them!"

-.-.-

Minato sighed and slowly got dressed. He bowed to the master of the house and waved, teleporting behind Naruko touched her shoulder. She whirled around in surprise and he handed her a small red bag. "Your mother said to give this to you. Remember, this is all you're getting tonight, so be wise!" he smiled, turned and vanished in a brief flash of gold.

Naruko stood there, holding her bag. She snapped back and grabbed her jacket. "Sasuke! Look for the Raijin mark!" Sasuke complied, smoothing out his friend's jacket, searching the back of it. Then, after Naruko unzipped the front, he lifted it to look on the inside.

"Found it!" He lowered the jacket and flipped the back of Naruko's jacket collar. Naruko tried to see, but she couldn't. She gave up and slipped out of the jacket.

Running her finger over the black print, she sighed. "Even though i told Father so many times to not mark me!" She put the jacket back on and sighed, looking around. She froze when she looked around. Everyone were looking at them. Her face turned red and she grabbed Sasuke's hand, and they ran for it. The didn't stop until Sasuke dug his heels into the ground and stopped Naruko in her tracks with his weight. They were already at the edge of the buildings and near a forest.

"I think that's far enough now, Naruko."

"Oh...um... oops."

"What time do you think it is?"

Naruko stared at the sky. It was pitch black and filled with bright twinkling stars. The full moon hung in the sky. She shrugged. "I know it's not midnight. The moon is too low."

Sasuke sighed and stretched. "Ahh~! I'm so bored. What should we do while we wait?"

Naruko shrugged again. "I'm just going to um... go to sleep in that tree?" She pointed to a large tree with thick branches and canopy.

Sasuke stared at her with sagged eyelid. "I was thinking we can... eh..never mind." He led the way to the tree and began to climb up, reaching down to help Naruko each time he reached a new branch.

Eventually, they got to a relatively wide tree branch with a fairly flat upper side. He sat down on the branch and leaned against the tree trunk. Naruko sat in front of him and leaned against Sasuke's chest. They sat silently for a bit, before Sasuke started to fidget.

Naruko leaned forward and turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"

Sasuke shook his head but when Naruko glared at him, he conceded. "Your ponytail is digging into me." He laughed it off.

"Oh." Naruko reached to the back of her head and slowly pulled on her hairband, released her golden yellow hair in a cascade down her shoulders. She leaned back again. "Is that better?"

"Yes."

They sat in silence for a while longer before Naruko suddenly asked, "Do you like girls with long hair?"

Surprised at the question, Sasuke paused before answer. "I don't know, but your mother and my mother both look very pretty with long hair."

"I see..." Naruko reached and grabbed a few strands of her hair. "Then I think I will grow it a bit longer..."

As the moon slowly climbed the sky, approaching midnight, Naruko yawned. "Sasuke, im bored. Do something funny."

"That's so incredibly vague. Anything specific?"

"I don't know. Sing a song?"

"Okay." Sasuke sat thinking for a moment. "Well... I've always like this song..."

_"Nanika ni tsumazuitara_  
><em>douyatte tachinaoru no?<em>  
><em>kangae suginai koto sa<em>  
><em>uwanosora de kiite ita"<em>

He cut off abruptly. "Ahaha. Kinda sad and maybe slightly grim. Maybe a different song would have been better?" He waited for a reply. "Naruko?"

She didn't answer. He heard soft breathing coming from in front of him and leaned back, putting his arms around Naruko and waited.

Time passed unnoticed, until a bright red explosion rocked the air. Naruko jerked awake and looked around,

"I think the festival started. It should be midnight."

There was another whistle and thing time, a light blue fireworks shot up high and exploded. Infused with lightning, a large ball of electricity expanded with the explosion, hanging in the air for a few seconds before fading.

Naruko turned to him after watching for a few more seconds. "Sasuke, let's go!"

Her friend nodded and they jumped down, from branch to branch until they hit the ground. As Sasuke landed on the ground, he stumbled and Naruko helped him recover his balance. "Be careful," she grinned and led the way toward the center of the village, dashing through (the snow~) the streets and dodging people and the graduates.

This festival was especially kind to graduates because all they had to do was show their new headband, and they got free food. Some took advantage of it, some didn't. Of course, since neither of them passed, it doesn't matter anyway.

"I want takoyaki..."

"Seriously? But we just came here! Shouldn't you look around first?"

"No. I'm starving."

"Well, it's money your father gave you..."

A few minutes later, Naruko and Sasuke walked along munching on takoyaki, pulling the dough balls off one by one and chewing it slowly savoring the octopus inside. Their eyes were wide as they watched performances and various displays. Since the festival was after midnight, neither of them had ever gone to it before because their parents claimed it was too late for them to stay up.

Just as they finished the last of the takoyaki, Naruko stopped in front of a stand with a tall man grilling small squid stuck on sharpened wooden stick. After a second or two of thinking, she made her way over and bought two, one for herself and one for Sasuke. As they turned to leave, the man managing the stand called out. They both turned.

"Ah, Naruko and Sasuke. Thought i recognized you. Going on a date?" He winked at them.

Naruko turned beet red and Sasuke shuffled his feet. "Th-there's no way that's true! R-right, Sasuke!"

"Well...ahhhh!" He was cut off when Naruko rammed her heels onto his toes.

The man laughed and grabbed another squid off the grilling rack. He wrapped it in a piece of paper and tossed it at Naruko. "Well, here's one on the table for you two lovebirds to share."

Naruko caught it and began to protest when the man waved his hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it and continue." He laughed again, a deep booming voice that still managed to not sound out of place in the loud atmosphere on the festival.

Before the hour was over, Naruko managed to acquire shioyaki, dango and karaage for the two of them. After confronting her about her tendency to buy roasted foods on sticks, to which she retorted it was easy and convenient to eat, Sasuke rummaged around his jacket and took out a pouch. "Tada~"

"Wah! You're so sneaky! After making me pay for all that food, turns out you brought your own money!"

"You're the one who keeps throwing it at the seller. Besides, I wanted it to be a small surprise to you."

They ran off again, melting into the sea of people filling the streets. They then proceeded to blow most of Sasuke's money on masks and other souvenirs.

They finally dropped onto the base of a tree, facing the Hokage building and stretched their legs and arms, letting out a sigh of satisfaction.

"Ah...I never knew life could be so fun!"

"Is it because you had a lot of delicious food to eat?"

Naruko swung her leg sideways and kicked him. "Are you implying I'm fat and a glutton?"

Sasuke winced and shook his head. "Of course not. What I mean it, I was happy too and I was wondering your reason and i merely put up a suggestion."

"Hmph!"

Suddenly, Sasuke froze. Naruko could feel the tension on his body through their touching arms.

"What's-"

"Shh!"

Naruko nodded and tried again, whispering. "What's the matter?"

Sasuke subtly titled his head toward the Hokage building. A dark shadow was on the roof, almost concealed from them and most definitely from the rest of the festival. "That's not someone from Konoha. Nobody would be sneaking around in the middle of a festival if they had the right to be in here."

He heard a rustle next to him, but he was so intent on the dark shape he didn't address it until he saw movement from the corner of his eyes. By then it was too late.

"Wait, Naruko!"

The yellow haired girl was already running off, her hair, normally tied up, was down and whipped around her head as she ran silently toward the building.

With a curse, Sasuke got up too and ran after her. He was nowhere as fast as Naruko though.

They finally got into whispering distance when Sasuke ran to the base of the building and Naruko halfway up the first wall.

"What are you doing? We're not even genin! How are we going to stop a full-fledged ninja who managed to sneak in without alerting the barrier team? We should alert someone else!"

"Well then you go tell someone. It will probably be too late if we don't go after him _now_."

She turned and continued climbing. With a silent stomp of frustration, Sasuke went after her, to support her in a fight if nothing else. If the intruder uses water, they were more than screwed in a fight.

As Naruko disappeared over the edge of the first roof, light clinking for the disturbed tiles, Sasuke sped up his climbing as he rushed to catch up to her.

After a few tense minutes, they both stopped at the side of the open window where the intruder had gone in.

They caught their breaths and Naruko looked at Sasuke. He looked pained and reluctant, but he held up two fingers and flicked them in the direction of the gap. With kunai in hand, they surged into the room.

Immediately, they spotted two masked ninjas in the room, mere moving shadows in the darkness, bent over in search of something.

With wordless agreement, they charged the one on the left that is closer. Naruko, the quicker of the two, lashed out with her kunai. The dark man whirled around and blocked it with a scroll he was scanning over. Naruko winced at the sound of metal stabbing through thick layers of paper. Each and every one of the scrolls in the Hokage building is priceless.

"Duck!"

At the sound of Sasuke's voice, Naruko obeyed without a second thought. Half a heartbeat later, three shurikens flew over her lowered head and into the man, two sinking into the scroll and the last cutting the man's shoulder.

The man swung the heavy scroll like a club and struck Naruko's temple, snapping her head to the side and sending her sprawling to the ground, unconcious. Reaching into his pouch and pulling out a kunai, the man spun it in a circle and flung it into Sasuke's body, deep in his side. He fell with a loud cry against a bookshelf and blood began to spread on the floor. The two men paid them no attention and began to search again.

After a while, one of the men turned and stared at Sasuke. Bloodshot eyes stared into his and he spoke, a rasping voice that was cracked from disuse. "No one is going to come help you, if that is what you're waiting for. We have sealed this room with a barrier than prevents sounds from traveling out and in. It is the _only_ reason you caught us off guard, so don't get too proud."

It was clear to Sasuke now that they were on their own, and it was most likely the end for them. He turned slightly and looked at Naruko, collapsed on the floor. He thought that she wasn't hurt as badly as he is and for that he is relieved.

Finally, one of the men sighed in content and drew Sasuke's attention to him.

"This is it." He held up a thick scroll. "This is the scroll sealing _the_ kinjutsu, among others. Now all that's left is to find the Kyuubi's jinchuriki and our mission is complete."

Sasuke's blood ran cold. Naruko was the Nine-tail's host! He must alert the Hokage and jonin.

The men stood up and made to leave through the window. The one that spoke to Sasuke stopped them. "What do we do with these two?"

The other man, taller, shrugged, but then, a smile spread across his face, visible even underneath the dark mask. He took a set of kunai and casually threw them at Sasuke; almost playfully as if playing darts.

The first sank into Sasuke's other side. The second went into his right leg. The third stuck out from his arm. However hard he tried, he couldn't hold in cries of pain, and the men laughed cruelly.

"Please," he thought, "at least don't hurt Naruko..." But he kept silent. Anything he say will goad them on.

"Let him live. He's going to be in here until he rots. It's not like a brat like him can even move in his state. Judging by the dust on the floor, no one has been here for a good month or so." The taller ninja aimed a kick at his chest, knocking out his breath and cracked several ribs.

The shorter man, the ninja with the crack voice nodded at the girl collapsed on the ground. "What do we do with her?"

His companion shrugged. "Kill her. Make sure it's painful and make the boy watch."

The man shrugged and knelt beside Naruko, shaking her until she stirred slightly. As he saw her face, he froze. "Hey...come look at this."

The tall ninja gave a grunt of annoyance and knelt down for a better look. As the moonlight shone down on the girl's face, his eyes widened.

"Lucky...the jinchuriki delivered herself right into our hands." He reached into his flak jacket and pulled out a small book, flipping through the pages; stopping at a page with a rough drawing of a girl with yellow hair, with lines that look like whiskers on her face. The picture was circled. "That's her. Damn it, now we can't kill her. Come on, lets go."

The men moved swiftly. One of them took out a long rope and bound Naruko's hands and feet together. Another gagged her mouth. Finished, they straightened, the taller ninja with Naruko over his shoulder and the shorter with the huge scroll in his hands.

As they stepped toward the open window, a rasping voice stopped them.

"Leave...her...alone..." A kunai flew at them, but it was poorly aimed. It merely scored a line across the large scroll and the paper drooped down, released from the tight bind of the string around it. After the release of the kunai, Sasuke fell unconscious, although a second knife was already in his hands.

At the sight of that, the men looked at each other and nodded. The tall man nodded at the unconscious boy. "It is a pity that your life ends here. Your actions are commendable indeed." With that, they took off, leaping out the window and onto a tree branch.

Jumping through the trees, they stopped at a small clearing jumped to the floor. A small cart fastened to two stallions was tied to a tree. They tossed the scroll and Naruko into the cart and sat at the front. With a soft click, they undid the bindings and the horses began to travel quietly but swiftly through the forest; the distance between each tree wide and spacious. The two thieves relaxed and began to rest, regaining their strength to fight if someone came after them.

-.-.-

"Save me, Sasuke!"

Sasuke jerked awake, and groaned as the movement sent spears of pain shooting through him. He touched side, and his fingers came away with blood. That was good. It meant they haven't been gone for too long.

With difficulty, he reached into his pouch and grabbed rolls of linen. With sharp movements, he pulled out the kunai and quickly disinfected it and bound it with white layers of bandage, which quickly soaked through. He stood up slowly and staggered as a wild feeling of dizziness rolled over him.

Feeling faint with blood loss, he staggered toward the door, using the walls as support. He tumbled out the door and fell onto the ground. Using all his strength, he pulled himself to his feet and inched along the walls, wandering toward the top floor of the building. After a few steps, he threw up and fell to the ground.

Breathing hard, he dragged himself along the ground, leaving a thin trail of blood on the polished wooden floor. Crawling up the staircase, collapsed at the top of the stairs. Silently, he cursed his helplessness. "Is this the most I can do?" he spat. His vision wavered and blurred, when the floor vibrated with footsteps.

"Who are you? What happened?" Unable to lift his head, he couldn't answer. He heard a woman breathing over him as she ran her hand over his wounds, quick and gentle.

She swore and called to her companion. "Alert the Hokage. The second Uchiha heir is hurt badly." Trying to be as gentle as possible, she lifted him up slowly and walked toward the room, asking him questions and pouring soothing green chakra into his wounds as they went.

"Sasuke, who did this to you?!"

He coughed. "Save..." He heard more footsteps and a old man leaned over him.

The kunoichi transferred him into the grip of the Hokage and focused on closing his wounds. He felt the pain in each of the gashes in the flesh and broken bones begin to dull as the medic's fingers danced over each of them. Finally, she stopped, breathing hard from the huge amount of chakra she drained. After a moment of rest, she almost flew downstairs, perhaps going for more medics.

The Hokage set him down on a long cushioned chair and sat on the floor next to him. "I know it's painful for you to speak, but you must tell me what happened."

Sasuke took a deep breath and immediately regretted it. Keeping his breathing shallow and as controlled as he can through the pain, he managed, "Naruko..."

The Hokage leaned closer. "What?" From the corner of Sasuke's eyes. He could see the kunoichi's companion now. It was a fellow Uchiha. A three tomoe Sharingan flashed red with anger and vengeance. Sasuke caught his eyes and smiled to reassure him and maybe calm his anger.

"Shinobi, scrolls...Naruko is...kidnapped..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi paled. He turned to the Uchiha next to him and talked to him swiftly, the younger man nodded. He bowed and disappeared in a fine display on Shunshin no Jutsu. He better be fast enough.

The Hokage rummaged around a closet hidden in the walls, and pulled out a thick blanket. Unknowingly, Sasuke had begun to shiver. The Hokage pulled the blanket over him. "Sleep, boy. You have done enough already. We will take care of the rest. Sleep and recover. When you wake, you will see your friend again." He bit his lips with worry.

Sasuke nodded, his eyes already closing. He released reality and fell back into the dark embrace of sleep and oblivion.

A/N: Special Mention to Haruka Chisuka for the first 4 lines of _Kibou no Hana_. Oh, and thanks to idea (again, he is a person) again. This is the second part of the idea (this is a improper noun) he gave me, even though i twisted it some more.

I'm sorry for updating so slowly. I had been busy with schoolwork so I could only type a few hundred words a day, sometimes even less. I stayed up till 11 to finish this, you know; rawr!

I hope you like this chapter. If you find any mistakes, PM or leave a review and i'll fix it; if you have idea, PM or leave a review and i'll consider it. If i take it, I'll be sure to credit you! (See idea from above.) If your name doesn't show, then i probably already got the idea before you told me...sorry! Last of all, if you find something good with this, let me know so I can continue to do it :D!


	6. Return

The rocking and jostling of the cart shook Naruko awake. Drowsily, she woke up to a painful headache and a dark blue sky streaked with rays of red and orange.

"Where am I?" she thought. Staying quiet, she opened her eyes slightly. She was on a small road, based on the mild evenness of the ground, and trees moved passed her and disappeared from her vision. As she tried to move, she found that her hands and legs were bound with thick ropes behind her and her mouth uncomfortably gagged.

Shifting slightly, she saw the front of the cart. Two men were sitting with their backs to her. Initially slow at first, the pain of her headache made her thoughts totally lucid, even though it hurts to think.

Thinking quickly, she recounted the events of last night. As she got to the part when she confronted the thieves, she almost cried out. She didn't feel the comforting presence of Sasuke anywhere near her! Did they kill him? This must be why she is in this cart... they were taking her somewhere, but she doesn't even know what nation they are from!

She closed her eyes as understanding of the situation

She sneaked a peek at the men again, and quickly closed her eyes and tried to appear as dead as possible when one of the men turned his head. Her eyes closed, she heard them talk.

"I thought I saw her move."

"It's probably just the roll of the cart. Hurry up, we're going much slower than we can if we were running."

"You want to carry a unconscious girl all the way back to the master?"

To prove his point, when the next bump in the road came, Naruko was ready for it. She tensed a little and moved with the cart and rolled over slightly. The man sniffed and there was a whisper of cloth on wood as he turned back to face the front of the road.

Naruko felt a piece of paper under her cheek and she risked a small slit of her eyelids to see what it was. She almost gasped in surprise. It was the scroll that they had stolen. A piece of the string and paper was cut through, letting the scroll unroll. She waited for the next bump of the cart and moved to a better position for reading.

As soon as she read the first text, her eyes almost lit up in excitement. This was obviously a list of kinjutsu! Now she knew why those men wanted it so badly. Looking at them again, she continued reading as quickly as she can from her point of view.

In the extremely small text, all she could see was seals, seals and more seals. She was almost giving up when one jutsu with a relatively low seal count caught her eyes. She smiled to herself and check her captors again. When the chance to escape came, she wanted to have as much weaponry in her arsenal as she could. She began to commit the seal sequence memory, and to her delight, even the chakra control was relatively simple, simply requiring massive and powerful chakra; something, she noted dryly, she had always possessed.

She was going to make them pay for everything; for the theft, for hurting her, and finally, for the unforgivable act of hurting or even killing Sasuke in any way.

_Do you want revenge?_

Who are you?

_I am you. The part of you that will grant you power._

_Allow me to assist you._

Her focus narrowed and a cold lump of anger and vengeance burned in her belly, right under the strange black pattern of the seal that kept a monster under control. A monster that she and everyone around her feared. She took one last look at her kidnappers, and her vision faded to black. Before that, however, she saw a third person jump onto the wagon, a man with shoulder length white hair.

-.-.-

Minato's eyes flew open from his nap. Rubbing his eyes, he yawned. He dreamed of Konoha falling into ruin once again, from the Kyuubi. He lifted his head and looked through blurry eyes around the room in front of him. Looking down, he saw a open scroll and a brush that he presumably was writing with before he fell asleep. Wiping his eyes, he felt something wet on his cheek.

His hand was smeared black. He sighed; not only was it unprofessional to fall asleep while writing a report, he managed to print half of the paper on his face. He heard the sound of paper being flipped behind him and he looked behind him.

Kushina sat in a chair, leaning back and reading a book. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Minato move and she looked up. She brought her hand up just in time to stop a burst of laughter.

"Ha..._ahem..._Minato, you should go to sleep. It's late and the report can wait until tomorrow."

Minato grabbed a towel from the table and wiped his face. "I'll wait till Naruko comes home, and it will also feel wrong if i put this report off for any longer."

Kushina nodded and turned her attention back to her book while Minato picked up his brush again. He went back over the text that his face had been resting on and made it dark again. The report is about his latest mission, which was to find intelligence about the fairly old mercenary group _Akatsuki_, based in Amegakure, where it well... rained all day. His specific mission was to track down their latest clients and their requests without getting caught. With his incredible speed, Minato was fairly certain that his cover wasn't blown in the time he was among the Akatsuki.

Konoha didn't consider the Akatsuki a threat, all facts considered. They were merely cautious, but not overly so, since the three head members were trained by Jiraiya, who was currently missing..somewhere. Minato smiled at the thought of his lecherous teacher.

The house was so quiet and the couple was so absorbed in what they were doing; when someone knocked on the door, they both jumped. Kushina looked at Minato who closed his eyes. After a second, he opened his eyes again and shook his head at Kushina and mouthed a name. She nodded and went into the kitchen to prepare some food for their guest.

Minato opened the door and looked at his former student Kakashi, who stood at the door. She was breathing hard and looked like she had something urgent to say. Minato's smile faded and became replaced by a frown. He jumped down next to her. "What's the matter?"

Hayate Kakashi resembled her master in the way that they both had quick thoughts and movements. Her uncovered eye stared at Minato's angling down as she was slightly taller than him. She spoke, slight hesitantly.

"Someone stole the Scroll of Seals..."

Minato's eyebrows shot up in surprised and his face took on a look of worry. "We must get it back as soon as possible. Who is leading the team to recover it?"

"Please, let me finish," Kakashi paused, before reluctantly continued, her words pouring out in a rush. "The jinchuriki was also taken..." She avoided Minato's daughter's actual name in a attempt to soften Minato's reaction. Not that it helped much.

"What?! Do you know where she went?!" Minato practically shouted. Kushina charged out the door and hugged Minato, trying to calm him.

"Minato... is she in teleporting range?"

Both females looked at him expectantly. He took a deep breath and searched through every mark he had placed instantly. Most were clustered behind him in a huge rack. One was at the Hokage's building. Others were scattered throughout Konoha. There was no sign of the one he had placed on Naruko.

He shook his head and his fist curled in frustration. Kakashi laid a hand on his shoulder. "Sandaime wants to see you."

Minato nodded and looked at Kushina. She shook her head. "I'll stay and prepare for her return. We _will_ find her."

Minato nodded once more and put a hand on Kakashi's back and jumped, disappearing in a flash of yellow and appearing with Kakashi in front of the desk of Hiruzen. The Hokage stood up, staring him in the eye. "Minato, you must remain calm."

Minato nodded curtly. "Do you know which direction they went?"

The Hokage shook his head. "We think so. The storeroom was broken in from behind the village. We found signs of wheels and hoofprints in the ground. I've already sent a team of jonin and chunin in that direction."

Minato nodded, processing the information in his mind. He whirled around suddenly. "What about Sasuke? He is suppose to be with her."

"He is currently under care of the medical nin, having sustained major damage, none of them life threatening if it wasn't for blood loss."

"I see..." Minato stopped suddenly. "You will allow me to go, right?"

The Hokage nodded. "You will go as backup to the main force, with Kakashi."

The two ninja bowed to the village leader and left through the door. Circling around the building, they took off into the forest, the trees passing in a blur.

-.-.-.-

Thin trails of red chakra rose from Naruko's prone body. Strands of it wrapped around the rope binding her and pulled, severing the thick bindings roughly.

Mizuki turned around at the sound of the thick ropes hitting the wooden bottom of the cart. "Hey...what's going on?"

"What do you mean what's wrong?" The taller thief followed Mizuki's eyes and saw Naruko. "Oh shit..." The other man turned also and stopped the horses as he realized what happened.

The three jumped off the cart and readied their weapons, Mizuki with a large shuriken and the other two with kunai in hand.

Naruko staggered up, the chakra now encasing her completely. Her blue eyes was now red, iris mere slits that split her eyes in half. With a growl, she lunged at them, her hand snatching a kunai from her pouch. The blade collided with the shorter thief's kunai and shattered both, the force causing metal to fly everywhere. Some embedded in her hand. She leaped back, throwing several shuriken with deadly accuracy.

"Karo, you alright?"

The shorter ninja nodded. "Yeah, i think." He had drawn another kunai, discarding his ruined blade, deflecting the projectiles. He took a step, and was immediately pushed back and Naruko practically materialized in front of him. "Don't just stand there...help, Tsura, damn it!"

Mizuki's hand flew in a series of seals and when Karo disengaged from his blade lock with Naruko, a dirt wall flew up in between them, cutting off any further attacks. Three more walls raised in succession and completed with a thick roof. There were thud as the girl inside the cage struggled to break out.

With a signal from Tsura, a small hole appeared at the top of the cage. Tsura leaped to the top and looked inside. A kunai flew out and he jerked back, severing several strands of hair. He snarled in anger and he put his hands together in the tiger seal. _Katon: Jigoku no Hono!_ Placing both hands on the earth, trails of orange drew lines to the floor.A red glow came from inside the cage and there were screams from inside.

"She only needs to be alive, right?" Karo asked, looking at Mizuki.

"Make sure there's no permanent damage, Orochimaru-sama needs the body."

Tsura snorted. "The body? What for?" After a few more seconds, he lifted his hands and released the jutsu, the red lines on the ground fading and the interior of the earth cage faded into darkness again. The cries had ceased too.

Mizuki shrugged, "I don't know. I was giving this mission by a messenger. We just have to get the scroll and the jinchuriki to Otogakure. A larger force should rendezvous with us soon."

Karo punched the walls with lightning-reinforced fists and it shattered, releasing a heavy wave of heat from inside. The girl laid on her side, unmoving, the clothing contacting the ground burnt.

Tsura walked up and grabbed her by the hair. As his hands came into contact with some of the strands, it fell apart. Sighing, he grabbed her by the collar of her jacket, surveying the damage. The girl's clothes on the left side was blackened, and only a few strands of her hair was burnt. For some reason, there was very little damage done to her actual body and she had fainted from the extreme heat.

"She'll live." He walked back toward the cart and tossed her into the back again, not bothering to secure her. "Come on, we're short on time. Konoha shinobi are bound to be catching up and if we're caught, you're the one in the deepest trouble, Mizuki."

Mizuki spat onto the ground and buckled his shuriken again, climbing onto the cart. "Depending on who catches up, the two of you are dead too; so let's just make sure we don't get caught."

-.-.-.-

"Aki, any sign of them yet?"

Hyuga Aki shook her head. "No significant chakra signature other than our own and animals," she reported to the team leader.

"Then we must go faster!" Guy upped his speed again, leaving his companions behind until they adjusted and caught up to him.

"Slow down, Guy, you're not the leader, I am! At the rate we're going, we won't be able to fight when we catch up to them"

"Shikaku, you do not know the meaning of youth, right Kurenai?"

"No comment."

"All of you shut up and let Aki concentrate!"

"Thank you, Iruka."

Aki continued to search for any signs of shinobi. Suddenly, a burst of color filled her vision as traces of chakra filled her vision. Straining her vision, she saw four figures battling. As she watched, the person with the red chakra made a move and rushed one of the other tree. A wall rose between them shortly afterwards and then the person was encased in earth right after a surge of chakra activity from one of the others.

"I think I found them," she announced. "My range is around six kilometers and straining it can reach almost seven. They're right at the edge of it."

"Alright, continue to monitor them." Shikaku went into the lead, and now that the action was about to begin, Guy willingly submitted the leadership to someone he acknowledges. "Aki, stick closer and bring me up to date on the situation."

The Hyuga drew closer as they ran, talking as she did so. "They have her trapped in a cage..." She gasped in horror as she recognized the trail of chakra as fire. "We must hurry! They're burning her inside something!" As murmurs of alarm spread through the team, she suddenly relaxed slightly. "No wait...they've stopped..." He hand curled into fists as she saw how they were treating Naruko. She bit her lips as they raced through the forest, mere blurs in the trees.

Suddenly, before her eyes, the four chakra signatures disappeared. Straining her eyes again, she couldn't see anything. Nothing except the horses that was with them. "Shikaku, i'm sorry..."

The man looked at her, "Why?"

"I've failed. I lost them."

"What do you mean you lost them?"

Aki hesitated before answering. "I think they entered some kind of barrier that can block out my Byakugan."

Shikaku cursed. "We'll go to where you last saw them, and then we'll slow down and continue on more carefully."

Aki nodded and turned her attention back to the front, mentally tracking the place the signatures disappeared and their current position. After a moment, the trees thinned and then disappeared altogether. They dropped to the floor and ran on the ground. In front of them, a rocky pass loomed. It was filled with rocks and caves. Unfortunately, Aki stopped the group at the start of the pass. "They disappeared around here..."

Shikaku sighed. "Search every single cave and destroy the entrances that have nothing in it with explosive tags. If you find anything, send a signal...disperse!"

-.-.-.-

"They split up..." Mizuki announced.

Tsura grinned. "That's perfect. The three of us together should be more than a match than anyone alone in that group, maybe even two." He spun a kunai around his finger, twirling it.

"Which should we get rid of first?" Karo asked, monotonously.

Mizuki spoke up again,"Can we kill the one with the scar across his face?"

Tsura looked at him strangely. "Why him in particular?"

"He _was_ my friend, and now I wish for him to die."

Karo stood up. "I was thinking more along the lines of the woman with the Byakugan. She has the highest chance of finding us." He flipped a kunai into the air and tossed it into the darkness of the interior of the cave. The knife sank deeply into the rock, imbued with lightning chakra, pinning Naruko's jacket to the cave wall. "Mizuki, you wait here and watch the jinchuriki. We'll go and kill each of the Konoha-nin quietly. We'll leave the scarred one for last."

With that, he and Tsura both left the cave and went after the girl known as Aki.

-.-.-.-

"Damn it, Naruko, where are you!" Iruka jumped from rock to rock. He skidded to a stop in front of a cave and cautiously walked stepped into the entrance, holding his signal gun. His eyes adjusted to the darkness and he could see the back of the cave. Just to be sure, he walked in and slid his hand along the walls of the entire cave.

As he went back out into the daylight, he pressed a explosive tag on the rocks at the top of the cave. Stepping back, he put his hand together in a seal and detonated the opening, covering the entrance with rocks, blocking off the interior. He quickly moved to the next cave he saw.

Jumping up rocks until he reached the ledge, he looked inside. The cave looked deeper than the others. Cautiously, he moved forward. The cave opened up wider as he went. Suddenly, something barged into his side and threw him against the wall. He heard the clink of metal as his attacker drew a kunai from his pouch. Taking up his own weapon, he instinctively blocked the blade that came at his neck, sending the metal flying into the back of the cave, ricocheting off the walls and scattering little sparks where it hit trace pieces of flint.

Throwing up both of his legs, he kneed his attacker in the stomach and hurled him back. On his feet in a instant, Iruka threw himself on his attacker and placed a kunai on his neck. Taking one of his signal guns, he fired it and the cave briefly lit up in blue light. Casting a quick look around the cave, he saw a body at the back of the cave. When he looked down, he saw his friend Mizuki, trapped under his blade.

He got off the other man quickly. "What are you doing here, Mizuki?"

The white haired man cleared his throat. "That's my question to you, Iruka. I'm here to take Naruko back to the village."

"Oh...why did you attack me?"

"I thought you were those two thieves. I'm hiding from them," Mizuki answered, relaxing against the cave wall closing his weapon pouch. He looked up as Iruka headed toward the opening of the cave. "Where are you going, Iruka?"

"I need to alert the rest of my platoon to this location."

Iruka took out his other signal gun and lifted it. A kunai flew from behind and knocked it from his hand, sending it flying out into the air and it fell down the rocky slopes. A second kunai pierced his calf, dropping him down to one knee. He spun around as fast as he could, just in time to parry a kunai that flew toward his chest.

With a effort, he yanked the kunai from his leg and threw it at Mizuki. The traitor knocked the blade out of the air, but failed to stop a second one that hit him in the side half a second later.

The two men stared each other down, no words needed. Konoha does not need traitors, and no words is needed for the flames of hatred that glowed in Mizuki's eyes. Finally, Iruka made the first move, brandishing a kunai and charged Mizuki.

-.-.-.-

Naruko blinked, surrounded by darkness. Behind her, sharp clangs of metal on metal and men yelling echoed throughout the cave. Moving her hand, she found that she wasn't secured like before. With a small gasp, she pushed herself up, and stopped. Twisting, she saw a kunai pinning her jacket to the cave wall. With a sigh, she ripped the jacket off the kunai and turned to observe the source of the sound.

Silhouetted against the white light, she saw black figures crossing blades, sparks flying. She recognized the spiky hairstyle of Iruka and after a moment, the long hair of Mizuki.

"Iruka-sensei!"

Iruka turned his head briefly at his name, and that lapse in attention allowed Mizuki to score his blade across Iruka's cheeks. He ignored it and parried Mizuki's next blow. "Naruko! Stay there and don't move!"

He threw his weapon at Mizuki and threw down a smoke bomb in the same instant, concealing himself. Performing each seal with care, pulled back his arm. _Suiton: Hahonryu no Jutsu!_ Iruka slammed his hand forward, and a torrent of water blasted forth from his hand. Because there wasn't any water present, the jutsu was weak, but all the same, some of the rocks of the cave was blasted apart and water filled the cave up to his ankle. As the smoke from his bomb cleared, he looked around, but Mizuki was nowhere to be seen.

"Don't move."

Iruka froze as he heard Mizuki's voice from deeper inside the cave. Slowly, he turned and saw what he feared most in the darkness; Mizuki held a knife against Naruko's neck while covering her mouth. He was squatting and one of Naruko's hands was under his sandals.

"Kill yourself, Iruka, and i'll consider sparing her."

Iruka gritted his teeth. "Now, Iruka." He lifted a kunai to his chest and pointed it toward his heart. "If you try anything, I'll kill her, and then you."

His hand trembled and his eyes were wide with anger. As he watched, he thought Naruko blinked. She blinked again, and only now did he realized she was winking. She blinked three times and Iruka nodded slightly, almost undetectable if you weren't looking for it. He waited three seconds and then pierced toward his chest.

Naruko erupted upwards and the top of her head collided with her captor's chin and his head was thrown back. Mizuki jerked his kunai, but it only slid across Naruko's collarbone, drawing a ragged line of red through her skin.

At that moment, Iruka redirected his movement and tossed it under his arms while dodging himself, since he didn't think he could stop his movement in time. He spun and while he was in rotation, he drew another kunai and sent it whistling through the air through Mizuki's hand, pinning him to the cave wall.

He sent another blade flying toward Mizuki's throat, but it was blocked by Naruko. "Naruko, what are you doing? He was going to kill you."

Naruko shook her head and smiled at him. She leaned the back of her legs against Mizuki's hand and pressed it again the cave wall to stop any movement and bowed to her master. "Thank you for coming for me, Iruka-sensei." Iruka nodded, still confused by her actions. "Will you pass me if i perform the clone jutsu, even if it's slightly late?"

Iruka nodded hesistantly.

Naruko nodded too and motioned for him to step back. He did and Naruko performed the clone seal, crossing half tiger seals. A explosion of smoke spread through the cave. When the smoke cleared, the cave was filled with copies of the girl. When Iruka reached out and touch one's shoulders, she turned to look at him questioning and when he smiled and shook his head, the clone looked back at her original for direction.

This is no mere clone jutsu. This the the Taju Kagebunshin no Jutsu, the pinnacle of any clone jutsu, through sheer numbers alone.

The clones parted and Naruko dragged Mizuki out and placed him on the center of the ledge under the sky. With three others' help, they threw him up into the air and waves of clones struck his back, throwing him higher and higher. Finally, with the assistance of her clones, she jumped up and aimed a kick, twisting in the air and blasting Mizuki back onto the ground, throwing up a cloud of dust. There was no sign of movement from him, even though there was still ragged breathing.

With a cloud of white smoke, Naruko's clones disappeared. A shape appeared out of the smoke and Naruko jumped out, tackling her teacher to the ground in a hug. "Thank you, Iruka-sensei!" He smiled and ruffled her hair.

"Ah...I almost forgot..." He reached behind his head and untied his forehead protector. Then he reached around Naruko and tied the symbol of Konoha onto her forehead. "Congratulations, Naruko! Now...let's go find someone with a signal gun..."

-.-.-.-

"Ah...I can't find anything..." Aki stuck a tag on the the rocks and backed a safe distance away and detonated it. "It's getting so late too, I have to get back to Hinata..." As she climbed up another slope of rocks, she saw a kunai flying toward her from behind. Swinging to the side, she dodged it and it buried itself in the stone, crackling blue. With a few more jumps, she reached the top of the slope. She stood there, waiting, ready for any incoming attack.

"I know you're there, come out, cowards!" she called. With her Byakugan, she could see the two figures hiding behind a tall rock. She had already recognized them as two of the thieves, though the third one is still missing. She broadened her range to catch any surprises that the third person might spring.

"Looks like you found us...as expected as one possessing the Byakugan...Are you part of the Main House or the Branch? The last one we killed was a Branch, so we couldn't get anything from him..." The two climbed over the rocks and stood, silhouetted against the sky.

Aki gritted her teeth at the mention of a clansman's death so casually. With some effort, she calmed herself. They must have wanted her to attack and is provoking her. She took a deep breath. "Where did you hide Naruko? Where is the third person?"

"Oh...just somewhere. Say, mind if you tell us your name? We'd prefer to know what to call a person we've killed, especially one as beautiful as you. I'm Karo, and he's Tsura..."

"There is no need for my name to be tarnished by your tongues. If you won't tell me now, I'll force you to speak after I kill one of you!" She grabbed several kunai from her pouch and quickly strung explosive tags to them, sending them flying toward the stone. As the blades buried themselves in the stone, the two men jumped and the boulder erupted in a huge explosion.

"My my, can't you aim? I think you should call the rest of your group to help you. Clearly the Hyuga isn't as skilled as they say," Karo taunted, squatting on another rock and looking down at her.

Aki charged at him. "I will be enough." After a few feet, she stopped, just in time to avoid a fireball that came from above. Before Tsura touched the ground, Aki was already in his face, lowering her stance.

_Hakke Sanjuni Sho!_ With a flurry of thirty two blows, she sent the man flying into a rock. "Come out, stop hiding. A mere clone isn't enough to stop me."

Tsura came out from cave as the man lying on the ground disappeared with a _poof._ "Didn't really think that can fool you, but it was worth a try."

"Hide wherever you want. I'll be able to see you."

"I see...in that case, we'll have to overpower you with force. Are you sure you won't tell us your name?" Karo sighed when he saw the look in Aki's eyes. "That's too bad then."

He reached over his shoulder and grabbed the handle of a sword. "Meet my wakizaki. I left my katana at home, so this will have to do." With that, he pushed off from the rock and at Aki, swinging his sword.

Aki hurriedly threw up her kunai in a attempt to block it, but as the sword cleaved through the metal like it was butter, she dropped it and flipped backwards. While in midair, she saw Tsura coming up behind her, chakra flowing. Twisting, she shoved her palm forward as Tsura released a fireball from his mouth. _Hakke Kusho!_ The fireball was destroyed by the wave of chakra that flew from Aki's palm and knocked Tsura down to one knee. Aki herself landed with a roll and came up ready just in time to dodge a sword swing aimed toward her neck.

The blade caught a few strands of her hair and she felt a tingle in her scalp. Lightning chakra...

Striking forward, her palm slammed against Karo's stomach and launched him backwards. Karo dug his sword into the ground to slow himself. Taking advantage of the opening, Aki jumped at him, but Tsura landed in her way.

"Get out of my way!" She swept a palm at him to pushed him aside, but as she contacted and damaged him, he disappeared in smoke again. Too late, she realized her mistake. Behind her, Tsura stepped out from a barrier he erected at the entrance of a cave and drove a kunai into her back.

_Hakkesho Kaiten! _Spinning rapidly, Aki swept Tsura off his feet, repelling him and sending him slamming into the rock face. Determined to be stopped his time, she lowered her stance again. _Hakke Rokujuyon Sho! _Palm after palm smashed into Tsura's chest, and he couldn't back away, since he was up against a wall of stone. The technique ended with Aki smashing both palms into two tenketsu near Tsura's heart.

Pressing her elbow against his throat, she pressed the point of her kunai against a artery. "I'm not suppose to know that technique, but someone taught it to me in secret. You're lucky and at the same time unfortunate to see it. You would never stand a chance against a member of the Main House if you struggle so against me. Ah yes... you're the one wielding the fire when when Hinata-sama's friend was locked inside a earthen cage, right? Don't deny it...die."

Moving back her blade and forward again to sever the blood vessel, she was suddenly paralyzed. The kunai buried in her back crackled.

She couldn't move at all, not even turn her head. She heard the laughter of Karo behind her, and was helpless against it. Of all things to do, she had turned her back against a enemy.

-.-.-.-

"Based on Shikaku's last message, we're almost there."

Minato's leg slowed the two-person group slightly, but not much. Whenever Kakashi drew ahead, Minato would throw a kunai and teleport to it and catch up to her. At last, they came to the pass, two walls of rock enclosing a thing passage and a ton of caves and stones above the cliffs on each side of the gap. As they watched, a explosion sent a percussion through the air. As they started toward it, several more sounded all over the place.

"Which should we go to first?" Kakashi asked.

Minato thought for a moment. "Let's go to the second one. All the others have maybe the force of one explosive tag, but the second one is huge.

As they arrived at the site, they saw a man support another walking away from a figure on the ground. Even from so far away, Kakashi and Minato recognized the green flak jacket of a Konoha shinobi. Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder and he nodded. Kakashi made her way toward the fallen ninja while Minato stared down at the pair of murderers and the men that had d

With contempt and silent rage, Minato disappeared in a flash of golden light, while scattered kunai all around the two men walking. Before they realized what was happening, the former Hokage was next to them.

They looked up, but all they could managed with a cry of shock before one of them was silenced forever. Minato grasped the other's neck in a iron grip. "Who sent you?" Minato's blue eyes flashed with blue fire, burning with furious energy, fueled by anger. Loosening his grip, he allowed the man to breath, but before he can utter a sound, Minato tightened his grip again. "If you tell me anything that I think isn't the truth, I will make your life very, very painful. Such is the fate of those that get captured by your enemy."

He loosened his grip once more, and allowed the man to gasp for a few breaths before talking. Minato thought about his words for a minute before nodding in satisfaction. Plunged his kunai into the man's heart and pulled it out.

Minato stared at him as he fell, face emotionless. He retrieved his weapons, briefly giving a thought that the preparation against a weak opponent is pointless and he would never had done it if it wasn't ingrained in him by Jiraiya. Putting away his kunai, he ran toward Kakashi and the shinobi on the ground.

Kakashi was holding the shinobi's hand. "Aki, you can't die yet."

With some effort, the Hyuga shrugged. "Kakashi, can you do me a favor and take off my protector?" Kakashi complied, and removed the protector from the girl's forehead. A manji in green was on her forehead, and the corners of it was faded.

A shadow fell over them as Minato stood next to them and then knelt. Aki's eyes shifted toward him, shaking as she tried to focus her gaze.

"I'm sorry, Minato-sama. I wasn't able to fulfill my mission..." As she said that, a blue light of chakra flew up and exploded in the air, briefly making the Hyuga's white eyes blue. "Fortunately, you will have your daughter returned to you. Please tell her to continue to look after and play with Hinata for me?"

Minato nodded, his face grim. Aki was the only medic in the team, and she did not have the strength to heal herself. As he looked for her wound, he found a red gash over her heart, fatal if the blood was not stopped. He drew away when Aki beckoned weakly to Kakashi.

It was too late for Aki already. Her lips started turning blue and the pulsing of blood had begun to slow as her body chilled. The manji on her head faded. Somewhere, as improbable as it is, a wind picked up a leaf and blew it onto her forehead where it stayed, replacing the manji with the symbol of Konoha.

Even though they didn't know her well, both Kakashi and Minato grieved the loss of the girl, who even in the face of her death wanted to take care of the younger generation. Minato carefully picked up her body and they headed toward the source of the bright chakra signal flare.

-.-.-.-

"This...is my fault," Naruko sobbed. Hinata hugged her while they knelt in front of the grave where Aki laid. "I'm sorry..."

"It's not your fault, Naruko-chan..." Hinata said, smoothing Naruko's hair, even though she had tears in her eyes too. "Stop blaming yourself. Even if you weren't there, it doesn't guarantee that those two won't go after her..."

"But if I hadn't gone and tried to stop them myself, none of this would have happened!"

"Hinata is right. Stop blaming yourself." The girls looked behind them and saw Hiashi standing behind them. He bent down and reached past them, placing a bundle of flowers on Aki's grave. "She chose her own fate when she volunteered. It's something every Branch member wishes."

He stood up straight again, quickly turning away, walking from the with quick steps.

Naruko took a deep breath, hiccuping. Pulling back her sleeve, she looked at a white pearl strung through with a thin string. Hinata pulled back her sleeve, showing a similar bracelet.

She took Hinata's hand and covered it with her own. "Let's work hard, and make her proud of us."

Hinata wiped her tears away with her free hand and smiled. "Yes!"

* * *

><p>AN: ...I don't know what to type. I'm feeling really sad right now after typing this, so I'll just...take a break from writing in a bit. Hopefully my imagination gives me something more cheerful next time? I also can't write actions scenes to save my life, even though I really try. If anyone can give me tips and guides on how I can write better fight/action scenes, I'd be really thankful.

So uhh...if you find any inconsistencies, PM or write it in a review and i'll fix it; and if you have a suggestion, just PM me or something...

Oh, and it might be a week until the next chapter due to a flood of schoolwork, so consider this on hiatus or something (is this the correct word?)


	7. The Test with the High Fail Rate

"I'm sorry, Sasuke! I graduated without..." She sat by his bed in the hospital. It was already dark out, but she came to visit her friend after her practice with her father. She touched his bandaged arm. "I'm also sorry about this too. I was in too big of a hurry..."

Sasuke laughed and patted her cheek. Unable to help herself, she scowled at the babying gesture. "Sorry, Naruko, I lied. I actually didn't fail."

Naruko drew back, "What?"

"I told Iruka-sensei to withhold the protector until you passed though, so it's technically the same thing. It's just I can't bring myself to fail something on purpose."

"Oh...thank you, Sasuke." She leaned over and hugged him. When he gave a gasp of pain, she quickly sat back up, putting her hands on her lap. "Sorry, did I hurt you...oh wait, stupid question...Just, sorry..." After looked at her feet for a moment, she looked up again. "When will you be out of the hospital?"

"The medics said I can be out in a five days, but i can't do anything too violent for two weeks."

"Eh? But we get our classes distributed tomorrow, what will you do?"

"I was thinking you can tell me what team I'm in tomorrow...can you?" Sasuke asked. Naruko nodded.

"Of course!" Naruko leaned back in her chair, her legs swinging. There was a knock on the door, but Naruko got up and locked it. Returning to her seat, Naruko lifted a bag. "Guess what, Sasuke?"

"You know I can't guess, Naruko, and why'd you lock the door?"

Naruko took two small boxes out, talking as she did it. "My mother is teaching me cooking, so I don't grow up into a bad cook like Father. I stuck to the easy things like onigiri at first, so I don't accidentally poison you, as Mother puts it." She opened both boxes and laid it out on the low table by the bed, where a bouquet of peony cuttings stuck out of a glass bottle of water. "Pick one!"

Sasuke took the blue one and left the yellow one to Naruko, noting that the blue matches her eyes and the yellow her hair. "Well then, I'll give it a taste, Naruko." He picked up the bundle of rice with his fingers and took a bite out of it. "This tastes good, what did you put inside of it?"

"I'm not sure. I think it's squid."

"You're not sure?"

"No, I'm not." She watched her friend eat before remembering something else. "I also brought this as a gift for you! When I bought it though, the girl from the flower shop said something about like 'I'm sorry.'" She brought out a bundle of white chrysanthemum flowers.

As Sasuke saw the flower, he choked on his food. "Naruko, you bring white chrysanthemum to funerals, not as gifts!"

"Eh? But I thought it looked pretty. No wonder that girl said something weird. She could have at least elaborated!"

"Never mind, Naruko. You should start eating. It's awkward just eating by myself..."

Naruko nodded and picked up her box, and started eating. As they both finished and was sharing a canteen of water, the door rang with knocks. Sasuke looked up at the door, then at Naruko. "You never answered my question...why did you lock it?"

Naruko shrugged in a manner that she must have thought looked innocent, because she was acting extremely suspicious. When Sasuke stared at her insistently, she relented. "They're girls from the Academy..." As the knocked continued, Naruko scowled, turned, and yelled at the door. "Go away! There's nothing to see here! Sasuke isn't in here, so move along!"

There was a answering yell, accompanied by a lot of cursing and sounds of cloth rubbing on the door as the people outside pushed each other around. "No! Unlock the door! We know that he's in there, so stop lying! We checked!"

Sasuke sighed, looking helpless. "Just open the door? I can bear with them some time, so you don't have to worry." He stopped when Naruko shot him a withering look and went to open the door. As soon as the lock clicked, the door flew open, and a bunch of girls came in, knocking Naruko aside. She got up and dusted off her pants and went to collected her boxes and chrysanthemum, leaving the canteen with Sasuke and prepared to leave. As she was about to walk through the door, Sasuke called out from behind her, over the talking of the girls.

"Leave the flowers by the door!"

Naruko allowed herself a small smile and leaned the flowers against the wall, behind the door, where it wouldn't be accidentally trampled. The last she saw of Sasuke before she left, he had put on a cold mask of indifference. He looked so serious and different from usual that Naruko barely managed to contain a small laughter of amusement.

Exiting the cool interior of the hospital, she ran all the way home and jumped onto her bed that her mother allowed her to sleep in since passing; rolling around and around. "He said it tastes good!" She rolled into her blanket and stopped, wrapped in a cocoon of cloth. As she made to unroll herself, she suddenly felt a pain in her head.

She felt like she was floating away from her body, but if she tried really hard, she could move her fingers. The cloth over her face felt suffocating and the edges of her vision began to darken as tendril of shadows extended toward the center. As the rest of her vision finally faded, the darkness was replaced by a light that slowly colored. She saw a room, and recognized it as one of her classrooms in the academy. She recognized all of the students in the room as her graduating classmates, including Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Sakura and that one creepy guy with sunglasses and wears a jacket no matter what what the temperature was.

With a jolt, she realized that she was looking at the distribution of teams. Hurriedly, she searched for herself in the room, but there was no sign of her signature blond hair that she inherited from her father. Panicked, she scanned the room again, but she still couldn't find herself. Strangely, she saw a yellow haired boy sitting with his face on his hands and basically looking like a idiot. Near him, a boy sat. It was so unexpected that she second guessed herself until she was forced to admit it to herself that it was a really annoyed Sasuke, that somehow was free of injuries.

Before she could see more, cracks filled her entire vision, and the visual scattered like broken glass, revealing a pitch black background. Just as quickly as it shattered, the glasses flew together and showed a white pure white sheet. The white faded to black again and when she moved her hand, it moved without resistance. Hurriedly turning, she rolled out of her blankets and tumbled off the bed.

Breathless, she climbed back up. "What was that..." She laid back cautiously, and when nothing happened, she relaxed, letting her head sink into her untouched pillow, fluffy and cool under her head.

After thinking for a long time, she still couldn't make any sense out of her visions. Giving up, she drifted off to a uneasy sleep, tossing and turning both in anticipation for tomorrow's assignments as well as anything she might find out about the strange vision that so obviously depicts that day.

-.-.-.-

Daylight flooded through the windows. Squinting at the bright light, Naruko opened her eyes in slits. As her eyes adjusted, she opened them fully, looking at her alarm clock. It was already nine. With regret, she noted after today, she will be waking up much earlier than she is today, with a jonin in charge of her schedule.

Grabbing her weapon pouch from the table that her alarm clock was on, she rolled off her bed and tumbled onto her floor, continuing until she stood up from the momentum. In the semidarkness of her newly acquired room, she changed from her pajamas into a orange jacket and pants with a black undershirt.

The jacket reached just above her waist, with soft white fur lining the edges of the bottom, fitting loosely. White fur also ringed the collar of the jacket, as well as the ends of both sleeves. The sleeves itself extended to just short of her wrist, not obstructing her movements. The pants reached below her ankles, and if she was wearing her sandals, it would cover the top of it. Light blue stripes ran down the side of it, as well as the shoulders and bottom of her jacket.

After briefly debating on to tie her hair or to leave it down, she decided to tie it; pulling it back and wrapping it as the base with a rubber band. Finishing her preparations, she stretched and plopped down face first on her bed. After a few seconds of enjoying the cool fabric before staggering upright, grabbing the doorknob to her room, and walking out.

She collided with her father as she exited, running into his side while he was fiddling with a locked door. Backing away a step, she rubbed her head. "Father, what are you doing?"

Minato looked up while his hands continued to move the key, trying to open the rusty lock. "'Father' is just going to pay an acquaintance of Master Jiraiya a visit. I'm just grabbing some more kunai because you can never be too fast, right, Naruko?"

She smiled. "Yup!" Pressing herself against the wall, she squeezed pass her father, whose body took up most of the narrow hallway. She only managed to get through when her father managed to get the door open and almost fell into the dusty room as the door suddenly swung in. As she passed, her father had already righted himself as he gave her a pat on her back.

"Good luck, Naruko, don't get into any fights with the girls!"

"Okay!" She skipped most of her breakfast, only eating a small rice ball. Since she graduated in an abnormal way, she didn't receive an assignment paper, and so she even didn't know when she had to be at the classroom to be assigned jonin instructors.

When she ran out into the streets, she wasn't surprised that the village was awake and had already begun to conduct it's normal business. Dodging the people walking around in the morning, she ran toward the Academy building. Halfway through, she ran into another girl as she walking into a intersection and they both fell backwards, sprawled on the road.

"Ow...watch where you're going!" The girl, Sakura stood up, rubbing her forehead and her skinned knee. Behind her, a long haired blonde, Ino, walked up from behind her and helped them both up.

"I'm sorry, Sakura..." Naruko bowed deeply in apology. Digging around in her pouch, she pulled out a square piece of clean cloth and rubbed some ointment on it. Dropping to one knee, she pressed it on Sakura's wound and smoothed it over. "It's not much, but please accept that as my apology..."

Sakura nodded and pulled her up again. "That's okay, Naruko." She sighed and turned to Ino. "Now we can't restart the race."

The other girl grinned. "That means I win by default."

Sakura groaned. "No point in running then...why were you in such a rush though, Naruko?"

"I didn't know what time we are suppose to be there..." she admitted.

Sakura nodded, and turned toward the Academy. When she realized that Ino wasn't following her, she turned and called to her. "Come on, Ino!"

After a moment's hesitation, Ino extended a hand to Naruko. "Do you want to walk with us?"

Naruko nodded. "Of course!" She grabbed Ino's hand and they ran to catch up with Sakura, who had already started walking during Ino and Naruko's brief chat. Dodging random people that went on their daily business, they walked in silence. At first she pretended to not notice it, but Sakura was aware of Naruko looking at her every so often. After a while, she decided she couldn't ignore her anymore.

"What do you want?" she demanded, looking at Naruko.

Naruko looked down, realizing she got caught. "Nothing, I was just think how it's so impressive that you were the only one to get a perfect score on the exam. I just barely passed and I studied almost the entire day the day before."

The compliment caught Sakura off guard and her hostile attitude melted a bit. She looked away. "Um..thanks. It's really nothing worth mentioning..." The silence drew out, and Ino took a flower out from one of her pockets where it had poked out before and began to stroke the petals unconsciously.

They rounded a corner and the Academy building came into view again, the door wide open. Their destination in sight, all three girls started running, Sakura's knee not hindering her in the slightest. They burst into the building and charged up the stairs, throwing open the sliding door.

Breathing hard from her exertion, Naruko walked slowly up the middle aisle between the tables and sat in the back, behind her friends from the Academy. Ino and Sakura sat at the back too, but on the other side of the gap. Naruko leaned forward, quickly scanning the room for Sasuke and the blonde boy again, after she had looked once on the way to her current seat. She could spot neither of them. Sighing, she gave up. It must have just been a daydream or something similar, nothing to worry about.

Counting to herself the new graduates that entered the classroom, she saw Kiba walk in with Akamaru on his head and the door sliding closed with a rumble behind him. Counting herself, eight former students are now inside the classroom, and since Sasuke is in the hospital, they were all present..at least according to the list of graduates that was distributed to the graduates' families.

After a few more minutes of idly staring at the clock at the front of the room and eavesdropping absentmindedly, the door to the classroom slid open again and Iruka walked in with a clipboard in his hands. He stopped at the front of the classroom and cleared his throat. Gradually, the chattering faded away and he look up at each of them with proud eyes.

"Congratulations on passing the graduation exam. I would like to congratulate you guys on becoming genin, but unfortunately, your squad leaders, whom you will serving under, will be deciding on whether you are fit to be genin." He stopped and took a breath, bring the clipboard up to where he could see it. "I will now announce the teams and the jonin that you will be serving under until you become chunin."

"Team 10; you will be serving under Sarutobi Azuma. The members are Nara Shikamaru, Akimichi Choji...and Yamanaka Ino."

At that, Ino almost jumped up and cheered, while Shikamaru groaned and leaned back to look at the ceiling. Choji uttered a small laugh and went back to demolishing his bag of potato chips.

"Inuzuka Kiba, Akamaru, Hyuga Hinata and Aburame Shino will be under Yuhi Kurenai as Team 8."

Watching their reactions, Naruko was disappointed when Shino sat stone still and Akamaru gave a small bark. Hinato fidgeted a bit and nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Last of all, from the nine students graduating, Haruno Sakura, Uzumaki Naruko, and Uchiha Sasuke will be under the care of Hatake Kakashi as Team 7."

With some effort, Naruko managed to stop herself from jumping up and cheering. Her feet was already itching to tell Sasuke that they were going to be in the same team. Sakura looked happy to be with Sasuke as well and looked at Ino smugly, earning glares from a glowering Ino.

"Well then..dismissed! Do whatever you want for now, as long as you don't get into any trouble. Be sure to be at your assigned classroom at noon. I will give you a slip of paper with your room number on it as you walk out."

There was a lot of shuffling and scuffling of cloth against wood and thumps of footsteps on the wooden floor. Iruka stood at the door and handed each of them a small piece of paper as they walked out. As soon as she exited the classroom and into the hallway, she sprinted off, making her way toward the hospital, stopping only when Sakura called to her before she got too far.

"Naruko wait, where are you going?"

"Where I am going? To Sasuke, of course. I want to tell him that we're in the same team."

Sakura caught up to her and rested her hands on her thighs, still standing. "Can I come with you? I don't speak with Sasuke much, and I want to know my teammate better." She smiled when Naruko agreed and they took off through the streets that was increasing filled with people as they went about with their business. Having made the journey so many times, Naruko didn't even stop as she speed walked through the maze of the Konoha hospital to get to Sasuke's room with Sakura close behind. She stopped at a door that looked no different than any others except for the number on the door. Easing the door only quietly and slowly, both girls stepped in.

"Sasuke! Guess what!"

Sasuke looked up from a book he was reading. "I don't know, Naruko..."

"Ah, can't you guess...? Oh well, I'll tell you. We're in the same team, and Sakura is with us!" Naruko blurted out cheerfully.

Sasuke closed the book and placed it on the bedside table after bookmarking it. "That's great! And apparently, they're shorting my rehab period to only one day if I use clutches, and strenuous exercise at only one week because of their accelerated healing jutus. That means I can join you by tomorrow!"

The whole time, Sakura stood awkwardly at the doorway, unsure what to do; moreover, she thought Naruko being is way too close to Sasuke. Finally, she made up her mind and spoke up. "Hello, Sasuke-kun. I'm Sakura; we haven't spoken before." She bowed politely with a blush. "I'll look forward to working with you."

Sasuke immediately adopted a look of mild disinterest as he regarded Sakura. When Naruko shook his shoulder, his face cleared to his normal look. "Sorry, habit," he mouthed. Naruko nodded. Looking at Sakura again, he dipped his head as well. "Same here..." He gestured to a stack of empty folded chairs at the corner of the room. "Take a seat, please."

He waited while the girls each grabbed a seat. Naruko sat down first, and leaned forward, talking at machine gun speeds, with the other two only managing to get a few words in. Laughing occasionally, they didn't notice the time fly by until Sakura looked at the clock on the table by chance and realized that they were going to be late if they stayed any longer. Hurriedly bidding Sasuke goodbye while replacing the chairs, they sprinted through the hospital with Naruko in the lead, ignoring the cries of surprise from the nurses walking all over the hallways.

By the time we got to their assigned room, they were already out of breath, and each sat down to calm their rapidly beating hearts. Anxiously, they waited for the jonin to appear, but the clock on the wall ticked on, pass twelve and pass one o' clock.

"Do you think he is going to come?" Naruko asked, bored. She had even pulled out a book, which she usually reserved for life or death situations. Sakura, who didn't have the foresight to prepare a anti-boredom measure, didn't answer, for she had already died from boredom.

When the minute hand ticked to the sixth mark, the door slid open at exactly that moment. A female walked through the door.

"Hello, aren't you girls early?"

Naruko took a moment to revive Sakura before answering. "We're not early...you're the late one! Is Kakashi-sensei not here?"

The woman coughed. "_I _am Kakashi, thank you very much. As masculine as my name might be, it's just a name right, Naruko-_san_."

The girls took a moment to absorb the information while Kakashi continued talking. "I am aware that we're missing one person, who is currently in the hospital. I'm not going to go visit him, so one of you two will have to tell him what I said when I finish." She stared at the silent and still girls. "...I have decided that I dislike the pair of you. You're too unresponsive and you're too quiet," she said, indicating Naruko and Sakura respectively, "hopefully the other one will be more exciting."

"Now...does anyone have any questions?" she asked. Sakura quickly raised her hands. "Put your hands down. You're not in the Academy anymore," she said, almost monotonously.

Sakura nodded. "What will be the first thing we do? Iruka-sensei mentioned some kind of test to become a genin and full fledged shinobi."

"Ah, that." Kakashi sighed and smoothed the back of her hair in thought. "We'll take the test when Sasuke gets out of the hospital. We'll be behind the other teams, but we'll catch up eventually."

"What happens if we don't pass the test," Naruko asked, worried. If it was another paper test... "What kind of test is it?"

"The test is... I'll tell you when you take it. As for what happens if you don't pass...you go back to the Academy of course, until you learned what it means to be a ninja and a asset to the village."

She turned to leave. "On the day Sasuke gets out of the hospital, meet me at the training ground at around 7:00 AM."

"Wait!" Sakura called before their new sensei could leave. "What do we do in the mean time?"

"Well..for starters, maybe you two should train some more? The fail rate for a full three man team is over 66%, so it would be in your best interests to prepare."

Sakura opened her mouth, but Kakashi was already gone.

"Well..."

Sakura looked at Naruko, who is talking.

"She's late, but she's pretty quick at leaving..."

Sakura nodded in agreement.

-.-.-.-

Naruko knocked on the door before entering her own house. "I'm home!" she called.

She entered and took off her shoes. She walked into living and saw her father sitting back against a chair reading on a really thick book of ninjutsu. He looked up as she entered. "Hello, Father. How did you visit go?"

Her father looked confused for a second before remember what he had told her in the morning. "Oh, she refused."

"She?"

"Tsunade-sama, my teacher's friend."

Naruko stared at him blankly, not knowing who he was talking about.

Minato sighed and explained. "She is reowned as the best medic ninja. I wanted to ask her to heal my leg, and maybe accelerate Sasuke's healing, but she refused."

"Refused to heal you? Why?!"

Minato patted her head and laughed. "Don't be angry. She has her reason. One of them is that my leg is broken for too long, and not even she can heal it. The reason she won't heal Sasuke, is because according to her, coming here would be a waste of time since he sounds like he's healing nicely."

"Oh," Naruko said. "Sorry for my outburst..." Minato nodded and shooed her away with a small push on her back. Before she exited the room, she looked back. "Father, have you heard of a girl named Kakashi?"

"Yes, she was my student."

"Then do you know of a test with a 66% fail rate?"

Minato smiled. "I do, but I won't tell you. Now go."

Naruko pouted, stuck out her tongue and ran back out to visit Sasuke.

* * *

><p>AN: I'm so sorry I had trouble thinking up ideas and on top of that, I had a lot of schoolwork...Sorry T^T

I'm also starting on a new fanfiction so this update may slow down some more than it already is. I'm still in the planning stages though.


End file.
